Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Iran minister says nuclear talks in ‘final stages’

Ali Akbar Dareini Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran is in the “final stages” of negotiation with diplomats from the major European powers in a dispute over nuclear arms, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Saturday. But European envoys warned that a lasting agreement remains a long way off.

Iran has been asked to make a commitment not to enrich uranium – a process that can provide material for nuclear reactors as well as bombs.

Last month, envoys from Britain, France and Germany offered Iran a deal that included a light-water research reactor if Iran pledged to abandon uranium enrichment and related activities. In a subsequent round of talks that finished in Paris on Nov. 6, a tentative agreement was reached, according to representatives from all sides.

“The negotiations we had with Europeans were very intense and important,” Kharrazi said in an Iranian TV broadcast Saturday. “It’s in the final stages.”

Washington believes Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons under cover of a peaceful nuclear program.

In a television interview to be aired today, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States is not seeking a regime change in Iran and has no plans to invade the country.

Iran denies developing nuclear arms and has offered to provide guarantees that its program is strictly about producing electricity.

“Most of the questions have been answered. There is nothing else Iran can do,” said Kharrazi, who was interviewed in Cairo, where he attended the funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Friday.

However, European diplomats in Vienna have said the Iranian government had come back this week with a version of the Paris agreement that was unacceptable.

The Europeans have warned Iran that unless it ceases all enrichment activities, they will back the U.S. push to have Iran’s nuclear file referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions on the country.